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Post by Ragingblues on Feb 6, 2007 17:17:28 GMT -5
Let's face it, we love to be entertained and we also love strange sightings, people, events, animals, or even places. People are strange, but when animal attack people, it can be both strange and entertaining at the same time! (as long as you or a loved one isn't involved) Let's post some strange stories we find here.... Ken
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Post by Ragingblues on Feb 6, 2007 17:20:03 GMT -5
I want to kick this thread off with a story about bull sharks attacking and sinking a boat off the Florida coast: www.local6.com/news/10942485/detail.htmlFORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. -- A crew aboard a shrimping boat were rescued after a group of bull sharks rammed and bit the vessel until it eventually sank off the Florida coast, according to an Associated Press report. Captain Roger Schmall said a group of sharks had been slamming into the Christy Nichole's hull for four days. But then a 14-foot bull shark broke the boat's tail shaft, leaving Schmall and his crew of two adrift about 100 miles off the coast. Schmall radioed for help, and another vessel picked the crew up about two hours later. Schmall remained aboard his ship to pump water out while the other boat pulled it back to land. He said it was working for a couple of hours, but the waves eventually took their toll on Schmall's boat and the boat sank. Okay, I just have to say it. Just when you thought is was safe to go back in the water.... Ken
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Post by Ragingblues on Feb 6, 2007 17:27:27 GMT -5
Scoop Baxter here, with another strange story. ;D Some of you may have seen this yesterday, and I debated about whether or not to post it. After starting this thread, it seemed a fitting home for it: Chewbacca Impersonater Headbutts A Hollywood Tour Guidewww.suntimes.com/news/nation/242918,020507talker.fullimage (copy/paste link for another photo) media.www.daily49er.com/media/storage/paper1042/news/2007/02/06/Opinion/Chewbacca.Lands.In.A.Very.Hairy.Situation-2700013.shtml?sourcedomain=www.daily49er.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com(copy/paste for original story link) What is with the sudden barrage of fictitious character-on-man assaults in the media? Reuters Life! reported Saturday that a Chewbacca impersonator was arrested that day for allegedly head-butting a Hollywood tour guide who warned him to stop harassing a pair of Japanese tourists.
This story broke less than a month after footage of Tigger was accused of punching a teenage boy at Disney World. To make the Chewbacca story even more fantastical, Superman and other cartoon characters were noted as witnesses to the alleged assault that was preceded by the hairy giant saying, "Nobody tells this Wookie what to do." I just want to know what kind of world we live in that even fictional characters are a threat to human safety and Chewbacca is held in custody under $20,000. The only thing that would make these events more ridiculous would be if the newspapers reported that Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse had come to blows in Downtown Disney to settle a grudge match over who is the most famous cartoon character. That is one match I would like to see.
What happened to the happy-go-lucky mascots of days gone by? There used to be a time when parents didn't have to worry that their kid would get a concussion while posing with Goofy or Snoopy. I understand that people in character costumes get a lot of crap from kids and adults, but that's no excuse for assault. One final thing, those tourists should know never to get too close to a Chewbacca impersonator.
As Han Solo said in Episode IV: "It's not wise to upset a Wookie."Wise words indeed... Ken
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Post by pitfallharry on Feb 6, 2007 18:16:00 GMT -5
;D
I'm thinking maybe the "Astronaut" story should have gone in here.
That story about the sharks sounds like a scene from Jaws! I could just picture that captian looking like Robert Shaw.
Man, what is going on with the world today.....even the animals have issues. ;D
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Post by Ragingblues on Feb 8, 2007 10:31:29 GMT -5
Deer Bursts Into Family's Dining Roomwww.news4jax.com/news/10957735/detail.htmlStory link FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. -- A wandering deer recently disrupted a Fleming Island family's morning ritual when it crashed into their dining room. The uninvited guest left behind shattered glass and a major mess. Most families living in Fleming Island know one of the benefits is being close to nature, seeing deer walking around outside and drinking from ponds. However, on Monday the Corey family got closer to nature than they ever expected.
At 8 a.m., Mitch Corey said he was experiencing the typical chaos that comes along with trying to get two kids ready for school, when he heard a loud crash. "I'm in the kitchen and I hear this incredible noise that sounded like cabinets were falling off the walls and glass was falling everywhere," Corey said. He said the kids were screaming and he noticed a giant hole in his dinning room window, so he ran outside, thinking someone had thrown something through his window. Little did Corey know, the window crasher was inside of his home. "My wife yelled at me and said, 'Get in here. There's a deer in our bedroom,'" Corey said.
The deer had jumped through the window and ran into the bedroom. Corey's wife, Julie, thought quickly enough close the bedroom door, trapping the animal inside. "When I opened the door, it went crazy. It was behind the couch, beating on the windows, climbing," Corey said. He said the deer got out on the lanai and got outside.
The eight-minute ordeal left $5,000 in damage and a shaken family. Corey said his kid still can't walk by the window or sleep in their own rooms for fear the rampaging deer would make a return visit. The Coreys said they take pleasure in watching deer walk by their home on a daily basis and that it was one of the reasons they moved to the area, but a deer in their home is not something they want to see anytime soon.Ken
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Post by pitfallharry on Feb 8, 2007 11:12:45 GMT -5
Oh, dear Lord..... That poor family. That would freak me out as well. I wonder how old the kids are? I think the closest my family has ever come to this is when we used to get bats in our house.
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Post by Ragingblues on Feb 10, 2007 0:24:18 GMT -5
Man Kept Partner's Corpse In Freezer To Collect Pension Checkswww.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251184,00.html Story Link (copy & paste) MEDFORD, Ore. — A man who police say kept his partner's corpse in a freezer so he could collect pension checks and an insurance claim is "devoted and loving," his mother said. William Blakely Richardson died at 76 of an aggressive form of bladder cancer in January 2006, police said. Since then, authorities allege, his long-time partner, Paul Mahanna, kept his corpse in a freezer in their garage. Paul's mother, Helen, 87, of Santa Barbara, Calif., said the two were together for 35 years.
"Paul took such extraordinary care of Bill during his illness," she told the Medford Mail Tribune. "They cared so much for each other ... both were wonderful people." She said she had spoken to her son once since he was jailed, saying he "seemed like himself." He is charged with identity theft and abuse of a corpse.
Jackson County Medical Examiner Tim Pike said authorities believe Richardson's immediate family members to be dead. He said detectives had tracked down Mahanna's relatives in California, and they seemed to have "embraced William Richardson as one of their own." "It was covered in bags and wrapped in five layers of duct tape," Oregon State Deputy Medical Examiner James Olson said. "It was carefully and meticulously done."Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. I guess I'm just glad he only kept his former partner around for the money, and not the "fringe benefits". Ken
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Post by Ragingblues on Feb 14, 2007 23:11:07 GMT -5
Batman Sighting Puts Schools on Lockdown SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- To an Arizona middle school, Batman! Three schools in the north Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek were on lockdown for about 45 minutes Wednesday morning after a student at Desert Arroyo Middle School reported seeing a person dressed as Batman run across campus, jump a fence and disappear into the desert, Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said.
The student described the person as 6 feet 3 inches tall and possibly male. "We're assuming it was male, although they did have a mask on," Clark said. Officers combed the desert around the middle school. A nearby elementary school and high school also were on lockdown as officers sought the caped crusader. The result - no Batman.
"It's just one of those interesting little stories that we looked into but we couldn't find anyone," Clark said. Nedda Shafir, a spokeswoman for the Cave Creek Unified School District, said putting all the schools on lockdown was a precautionary measure. "We didn't want to take any chances," Shafir said. "We just don't want to put anyone at risk."Story Link (Copy/Paste) hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BATMAN_SIGHTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-14-17-19-12What's next... Spiderman hanging out in the library? Aquaman spotted at the coin laundry? Thor having a low fat Subway sandwich with Jarrod? Ken
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Post by Ragingblues on Feb 27, 2007 20:50:45 GMT -5
I'm sorry if this doesn't qualify as strange in comparison to the other news in this thread. But, everyone knows a "cat lady" right? You know the kind... they have more cats than common sense and work only to feed and care for them? Well, this lady may be the most insane I have heard of in a while: Raisa Glazunova plays with one her 91 cats in a two-room apartment in Boryspil, Ukraine.www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070219.wdip0120/PhotoGallery01?slot=17My question is, how much money do you think this lady spends on food and litter every month? Ken
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2007 21:26:55 GMT -5
WHY DOES SHE HAVE A BABY STROLLER ? Cheers, G-MANN
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Post by IndyBlues on Feb 27, 2007 21:43:17 GMT -5
Well, John....there's no baby in the stroller,..guess that answers half of Ken's food and litter question. 'Blues
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Post by pitfallharry on Feb 27, 2007 21:52:52 GMT -5
Oh, lord......where's the "puke smiley" when you need it?
Can you imagine trying to eat pancakes with maple syrup in that apartment? If you didn't have a wet wipe handy you'd end up covered in hair. I'm sure there have been plenty of "Bigfoot" sightings around her apartment.
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Post by indianatone on Feb 27, 2007 21:58:01 GMT -5
Cat Collectors are an odd phenomenon, and you're right, we all must know that one "Cat Lady" in the neighborhood.
I wonder what it is about cat's specifically for the collectors. It's never an overabundance of llamas or crocodiles. Always cats.
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Post by Ragingblues on Feb 27, 2007 21:58:36 GMT -5
Oh, lord......where's the "puke smiley" when you need it? Can you imagine trying to eat pancakes with maple syrup in that apartment? If you didn't have a wet wipe handy you'd end up covered in hair. I'm sure there have been plenty of "Bigfoot" sightings around her apartment. ;D ;D ;D ;D All great responses! Ken
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Post by pitfallharry on Feb 27, 2007 22:45:33 GMT -5
I wonder if she has to "special order" litter boxes? I've seen some that can hold up to two cats but this......Um, I don't know about. Gosh, I hope there's not a kids playground near her apartment with a sandbox in it. "Mommy, look at my sandcastle!"
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Post by IndyBlues on Feb 27, 2007 22:54:45 GMT -5
"Look Mommy,...Tootsie Rolls!!! 'Blues
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Post by pitfallharry on Feb 27, 2007 23:10:24 GMT -5
"Look Mommy,...Tootsie Rolls!!! 'Blues ;D
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Post by pitfallharry on Mar 4, 2007 11:47:55 GMT -5
I don't know if this is exactly "strange" but it is rather bothersome.
Usually around the fall here where I live the bees get really bad and they're all over the place. After reading this article I realized something. I hardly saw any bees at all this past fall. I don't know if this has a connection with what the article is reporting but it's an odd coincidence.
I don't like bees but they are very important to the natural balance of things.
Scientists ask: Where are all the bees?
A Dade City beekeeper sounds a nationwide alarm as colonies mysteriously disappear.
By DAN DEWITT Published March 3, 2007
Dave Hackenberg, a Dade Coty beekeeper, is the first in the state to sound the alarm about the collapse of the national honeybee population; it has spread to 24 states in every part of the country.
DADE CITY - To a veteran beekeeper like David Hackenberg, it was as astonishing as seeing water flow uphill.
Last October, he left 400 hives in a field in Ruskin to feed in Brazilian pepper tree blossoms. When he returned a month later, all but 36 of the colonies had been abandoned, right down to the part of the honeycomb filled with larvae and pupae - the future of the hives.
"I could tell the whole order of things had just gone haywire," said Hackenberg, 58, who has been keeping bees since he was 12.
Hackenberg, who spread the word to scientists and other beekeepers, is credited with sounding the alarm about what may be the most devastating honeybee die-off in U.S. history.
The crisis, marked by bees mysteriously vanishing from their hives, has been identified in 24 states in every part of the country, said Jerry Hayes, Florida's chief apiary inspector; about 35 percent of Florida's colonies have disappeared, he said, with the losses concentrated in the southern half of the state, where many beekeepers from the eastern United States spend the winter.
Unless scientists can find the cause of the die-off, and a solution, its long-term consequences may be as ominous as its name: Colony Collapse Disorder.
Not only are the livelihoods of beekeepers endangered, Hayes said, but so is the estimated one-third of the nation's food supply that depends upon honeybee pollination - apples, almonds, melons, blueberries and some varieties of citrus, including grapefruit.
"Honey is a byproduct of pollination," he said. "It's wonderful and it's great, but more importantly, without honeybees taking pollen from one flower to another, that plant has no reason to build a fruit or a nut."
Scientists alerted
Even so, beekeeping remains a small and underappreciated industry, Hackenberg said, "the ugly stepchild of agriculture."
That is why Hackenberg has been so important, Hayes said. He is well-connected, opinionated, funny and, for an interview on Thursday afternoon, dressed to stand out, wearing a multicolored hat advertising his business, Hackenberg Apiary, and a large, square belt-buckle engraved with images of bees and honeycomb.
A former president of the American Beekeeping Federation, he has been on the telephone constantly in recent weeks, talking to reporters across the country from his winter headquarters in a remote corner of northwestern Pasco County.
When he began telling fellow beekeepers of his vanishing hives last fall, some were skeptical, but others told him they had been losing large numbers of bees for more than a year.
By reporting this to agriculture officials, Hayes said, Hackenberg "was the one who got this whole thing started."
In response, farming experts from several states and universities have formed an emergency working group to study the disease.
So far, the scientists know only two things for sure, said Dennis vanEnglesdorp, Pennsylvania's state apiarist: The main symptom has been the mass abandonment of hives. And the variety of fungi, viruses and mites found in collapsing hives suggests a widespread failure of the bees' immune systems.
"It's a lot like AIDS," Hackenberg said.
The rest, at this point, is conjecture, according to the study group's preliminary report.
Bees are increasingly trucked long distances to take advantage of crops, such as almonds, that pay high pollination fees. This may strain their ability to recover from infections, the report says, and expose them to a wider range of diseases and toxic chemicals.
"They forage over a large area so they pick up a lot of junk," Hayes said. "I'm surprised there's a honey bee alive."
The "prime suspect" for the collapse, according to Hackenberg, is an increasingly popular class of pesticides called neonicotinoids that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified as highly toxic to honeybees.
Another possible culprit, vanEnglesdorp said, is a new strain of fungus that has appeared in many of the failing hives. But both he and Hayes warned it is far too early to settle on a single cause of the outbreak.
"The awkward and frustrating thing at this point is that we're all grasping at straws," Hayes said.
Colonies disappear
Beekeepers have reported several smaller but equally mysterious collapses in the past, vanEnglesdorp said. In the 1980s, invasive mites from South America all but wiped out the feral bee population and contributed to a steep decline in U.S. beekeeping. The number of hives in Florida has since dropped from a peak of 12,000 to about 1,000 currently, Hayes said, and the number of colonies from nearly 400,000 to 279,000.
That, at least, was the count before the current collapse, which cost Hackenberg about 2,000 of his 3,000 hives - and an estimated $350,000 in lost revenue and the expense of rebuilding his stock of colonies.
By "splitting" hives, taking bees from a healthy colony to a new box with a young queen, Hackenberg has already created 400 hives. He has deposited some of these into nearby orange groves, where they will improve the harvest, produce a premium grade of honey and use the nectar to build "good, strong, boiling-over beehives that we can take up North to pollinate apples."
So, he is confident his business will survive this year, he said. "But what's going to happen next year, if whatever is causing this is still out there? What's to say the problem is not going to get bigger?"[/b][/color]
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Post by Ragingblues on Mar 26, 2007 17:16:59 GMT -5
Woman Has Crocodiles Strapped To Her Waistwww.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8O3U9KO0&show_article=1JERUSALEM (AP) - A woman with three crocodiles strapped to her waist was stopped at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing after guards noticed that she looked "strangely fat," officials said Monday. The woman's shape raised suspicions at the Rafah terminal in southern Gaza, and a body search by a female border guard turned up the animals, each about 20 inches long, concealed underneath her loose robe, according to Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for the European observers who run the crossing.
"The woman looked strangely fat. Even though she was veiled and covered, even with so many clothes on there was something strange," Telleria said. The incident, which took place on Thursday, sparked panic at the crossing. "The policewoman screamed and ran out of the room, and then women began screaming and panicking when they heard," Telleria said. But when the hysteria died down, she said, "everybody was admiring a woman who is able to tie crocodiles to her body."
In her defense, the woman said she "was asked" to carry the crocodiles, said Wael Dahab, a spokesman for the Palestinian guards at the crossing. The reptiles, which had their jaws tied shut with string, were returned to the Egyptian side of the border. Dhabi said the animals were likely meant for sale to Gaza's small zoo or to private owners. The crocodiles would fetch "good money," even in the impoverished territory, he said. The woman was not the first to try to smuggle exotic wildlife through the Rafah crossing, Dahab said: Another woman tried to bring in a monkey tied to her chest, and other travelers tried to smuggle in exotic birds and a tiger cub.Ummmm... okay . Does this mean we will also have to redefine the term "drug mule" soon? I would love to see somebody try to smuggle one of those across the border. Ken
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Post by Ragingblues on Apr 4, 2007 23:01:32 GMT -5
Coyote Wanders Into QuiznosAnimal Lays Down In Restaurant's Cooler www.news4jax.com/news/11517269/detail.htmlCall it a coyote with a hankering for fast food. People at a downtown Chicago Quiznos sandwich shop were stunned to see a coyote walk through the propped-open front door and lay down in a cooler stocked with fruit juice and soda.
A Chicago newspaper said that employees and customers calmly cleared out of the restaurant, though some took the time to finish their sandwiches and snap some cell-phone photos. Animal control officers took the passive coyote away after about 40 minutes. The city captures 10 to 15 coyotes every year. Veterinarians will examine the coyote and, if he is not injured, release him into the wild.--------------------------------------------------------------------------- I just want to know if anyone saw a roadrunner go speeding through the restaurant just before the coyote came in. Also, was the coyote carrying anything from the Acme company? Ken
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2007 7:50:05 GMT -5
Ken,
The Coyote has been released safely back into the wild.
Oddly enough Coyotes are fairly common here and have been spotted along the lake downtown downtown before. Not in Quizno's though.
I have seen one haul ass down my block as well as a few sightinging while we have been out for doggy playtime near the river. There is at this time a Mother Red Fox raising her three cubs just 2 blocks away, also along the river.
Cheers, G-MANN
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Steve
Treasure Seeker
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Post by Steve on Apr 18, 2007 22:06:18 GMT -5
We had a fox that used to sit on my patio in the afternoons. He hasn't shown up for a while though; I miss him.
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Post by Ragingblues on Apr 30, 2007 21:59:05 GMT -5
Guyana Woman Accused As Vampire Lynchedwww.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8ORA3MO0&show_article=1GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - A crowd of Guyanese villagers lynched an elderly woman they accused of being an evil spirit who drinks the blood of human babies, police said Monday. Authorities in the South American country said the woman raised suspicions with unusual behavior and was set upon by villagers who apparently believed she was an "Old Higue"—the equivalent of a vampire in the local Obeah religion that blends folk magic and African rituals. The woman, who has not been identified, was beaten to death and her remains were found on Saturday in a village 15 miles east of Georgetown, police said. Police have arrested three people and are questioning others, Superintendent Balram Persaud said. "We are still investigating," he said. Some expressed surprise at the persistence of belief in Higues, a creature said to take the shape of an old woman who can shrink herself to enter victims' homes through a keyhole. _____________________________________________ Ummmm.... okay. Ken
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Post by pitfallharry on Apr 30, 2007 22:28:17 GMT -5
Good lord! Stories like this just amaze me. Didn't it occur to any of these idiots as they were beating this old woman to death that if she was truly this "Vampire" creature that she'd be giving them a better fight and showing off her powers? Then again, there doesn't seem to be any hint of rational thought involved so even thinking something like that would have crossed someones mind is foolish.
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Post by COWBOY on May 1, 2007 21:51:43 GMT -5
Good lord! Stories like this just amaze me. Didn't it occur to any of these idiots as they were beating this old woman to death that if she was truly this "Vampire" creature that she'd be giving them a better fight and showing off her powers? Then again, there doesn't seem to be any hint of rational thought involved so even thinking something like that would have crossed someones mind is foolish. Hence why it's called a third world country
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